My hips were still quite stiff and sore this morning, so the going was quite slow. And yet I eventually made it to the town of Pommier de Beaurepaire, where I entered the local Catholic church to wait for the local library to open — honoring the church’s glorious acoustics by softly whistling a loving […]
“Contrary to what we usually choose to believe, the truly best moments in our lives are not the ones that are passive, receptive, pleasurable, or relaxing. No, the absolute best moments come to us whenever our bodies and minds are stretched to their limits during voluntary efforts to accomplish something greater than ourselves — something […]
This is how more than a few pilgrims feel whenever The Way’s longer stretches of wilderness & solitude meld anew into even small-town versions of “civilization” — a shift that provides not only the promise of rest & sustenance, but far more importantly the regular opportunity to come back into intimate contact with life’s fellow […]
I zoomed smoothly into the town of Revel Tourdan (my hips were feeling much better these days, and the weather today was perfect for walking — comfortably cool and lightly breezy and slightly overcast) and wound through its old streets to find and enter its even older Catholic church; a sanctuary built in honor of […]
“We cannot see things in their greater perspective until we cease to hug them to our own bosom. Indeed it is only when we let go of them fully that we begin to experience them as they truly are. Only then can we allow them to inspire our wonderment and our appreciation. Only then can […]
I had seen signs for the “Om Gite” for many miles before I actually arrived there, and had told myself that this was a place I should definitely stop. This intuitive calling turned out to be more than spot-on, with Lakshmi greeting me warmly immediately upon my arrival, with her husband Yvan welcoming me inside, […]
“Are you truly alive at home? Are you truly going to stay there in your coffin of mediocrity? Or are you going to break out of that cage of comfortable obedience and take the far braver journey instead — the journey of courage and kindness; the only one that leads your true and noble Self? […]
“Uncover what you long for and you will rediscover who you have chosen to be. Alter what you long for and you will shift who you are becoming. Release all that you long for and you will indeed become who you’ve always been.” ~ inspired by Phil Cousineau
And once more on this particular day I was confronted with the Camino’s bizarre sense of humor — the almost cruel way it taught the lessons of acceptance and attachment and humility and presence. For on this day its path led me on & on & on, seemingly without end — ever in sight of […]
The mystical beauty of the abbey Carmel Notre Dame de Surieu finally comes into view, and I was so tired that I found myself wondering if I might be able to hide out in its church sanctuary and spend the night therein; uttering the same out loud in more than a mere whisper as I […]
It is in places of great calm that our inner clarity can be more readily remembered; most importantly the clarity that would have us rededicate our lives not to persuading others to adopt our own personal principles or demand that they adhere to our own chosen deities or dogmas, but rather to caring for them […]
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